Apple's rumored acquisition of Beats will indeed happen, just for a slightly reduced fee, according to a report from the New York Post this evening. The acquisition, which was originally reported to be roughly $3.2 billion for both Beats companies -- the headphone and consumer electronics division as well as the streaming music service -- will now happen at $3 billion.

Since the acquisition was originally reported on May 8, Spotify -- the leading player in the subscription music field -- announced that it had 10 million paying subscribers, and this could have given Apple additional negotiating leverage.

Quote:

Still, the company is understood to place a high value on the profitable Beats audio business which retails headphones -- costing up to $450 -- and speakers around the globe.

That business recorded sales of $1.3 billion in 2013.

"Apple hadn't even begun its due diligence process when news of the number came out," one source close to the talks said Tuesday.

The paper notes that both Jimmy Iovine and fellow Beats co-founder Dr. Dre are expected to attend Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference next week. Dre is expected to net somewhere around $750 million from the sale as he currently owns approximately 25 percent of the company.

But all the speculation points to the same thing. I have yet to see one of these stories mention any amazing tech/IP that Apple is after. What's really scary is this part from the NY Post article:

Quote:

Apple has also apparently just begun doing its “due diligence” on Beats. When the original $3.2 billion number was leaked, the company had not yet done any of that, and since it started, it has apparently dug up some unsettling information.

So Apple just begun doing "due diligence" and dug up some unsettling information but are still going to announce the acquisition this week? WTF?!?

__________________"Terrorism is horrible and must be stopped. All of us must do everything we can do to stop this craziness. These people shouldn't exist. They should be eliminated."— Tim Cook 

But all the speculation points to the same thing. I have yet to see one of these stories mention any amazing tech/IP that Apple is after.

how many more headphones do you think will sell if they're apple&beats branded vs. beats alone?

even if nothing changed from the current iteration of beats?.. once they go through the apple engineers for a couple iterations, i'd be willing to be that even the more vocal naysayers in the threads will eventually buy a set.

how many more headphones do you think will sell if they're apple&beats branded vs. beats alone?

even if nothing changed from the current iteration of beats?.. once they go through the apple engineers for a couple iterations, i'd be willing to be that even the more vocal naysayers in the threads will eventually buy a set.

Who cares? Apple has more important things to worry about than headphones. If Apple doesn't have any idea how else to spend $3 billion I'll give them an idea: more iCloud storage at a cheaper price. Microsoft gives you 7GB cloud storage for free. I just got charged $20 for 10GB iCloud storage.

__________________"Terrorism is horrible and must be stopped. All of us must do everything we can do to stop this craziness. These people shouldn't exist. They should be eliminated."— Tim Cook 